The present invention relates in general to vision correcting and/or magnifying optical lenses, and more specifically to various flexible, adhesive, and non-adhesive films having predetermined optical characteristics and qualities that may be used as temporary or disposable “stick-on” lenses. These films or lenses may be removably applied to existing eyewear and may be dispensed from one or more dispensing systems or devices that store different strengths, shapes, and sizes of the removable lenses.
People wear many types of commercially available eye protection, eye coverings, and eyewear for purposes other than simply correcting or enhancing their vision. Eyewear and eye protection devices or items that do not typically provide optical magnification and/or optical correction characteristics include, for example, ski goggles, safety glasses or goggles such as those worn in manufacturing settings or at gun ranges, sunglasses, eyewear providing UV protection or shading the user's eyes from sunlight, swimming goggles, tanning protection goggles, welding masks, protective faceguards, surgical and medical eyewear, and other similar devices or items.
A large subset of the human population has difficulty reading printed materials and focusing on objects that are in close proximity to the eyes. To address this problem, simple and inexpensive reading glasses are commercially available at many retail locations including grocery stores and drug stores. Similarly, people also use prescription eyewear to improve distance vision. Both reading glasses and prescription glasses, as well as other forms of optical devices, provide optical magnification and/or correction and improved visual clarity to the users thereof. Such glasses often include plastic lens material having certain optical characteristics that provide these functions, and that are worn on the head when configured as traditional eyewear.
When a person is engaged in an activity in which protective, non-corrective eyewear is being used, circumstances often arise in which the user desires or is required to focus on small print or proximally close objects or, alternately, focus on distant objects. For example, a person may need to consult a printed map while skiing down a particular run with various forks in the path; a factory worker may need to consult design specifications, safety manuals, or other such materials during the use of heavy machinery; a person may wish to read a novel and/or check e-mails or text messages while engaging in various activities under direct sunlight; and/or a person may simply desire to be able to more clearly see road signs or other items while driving or walking on sunny days. Because non-corrective eyewear does not typically include corrective lenses, a person must remove the non-corrective eyewear and replace it with corrective glasses such as those previously described. Switching eyewear in this manner is often inconvenient and potentially exposes the person to the harm that the protective eyewear was intended to prevent. Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for corrective lenses that can be used in combination with various types of non-corrective protective eyewear and that can be easily mounted thereon and removed therefrom.